NDIS, housing assistance and choice and control for people with disability

NDIS, housing assistance and choice and control for people with disability

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) demonstrates the challenges of
individualised welfare in relation to affordable housing provision
. A fundamental goal of the NDIS is to maximise participants’ ‘choice and control’ over the support services they receive, from whom and where. The NDIS is not responsible for the provision of housing for participants, but the ‘user-costs of capital’ funds costed into the Scheme at around $550 million per annum (adjusted to inflation), could potentially be used to subsidise housing for participants. This essay examined the rationale for a supply-side approach to user costs of capital, and considered how ‘choice and control’ for NDIS participants could be maximised in this context, focusing on three key issues: